A thought I had on Thanksgiving: what if your SO's cooking had been totally incompatible with your Thanksgiving Day expectations? For example, a couple of years ago my wife and I attended a T-Day meal with friends. They served NOTHING I liked--no turkey, no mashed potatoes, no stuffing, etc.

Clearly they were OK with those dishes. If I'd been dating the woman in that couple and she'd told me the menu....let's just say, it had better be True Love.

S'ok. She bakes very well, however her main meal reportoire consists of probably 6 meals. Spaghetti (which she makes with tomato paste and water), meatloaf (that uses a bottle of ketchup and I burp all night), liver and onions, mac & cheese (a few slices of american cheese and a little milk over noodles), pot roast (that was good) and once in a while a beef roast that the baked till it was so dry that it flaked off and once in a while shake n bake... - oh yeah and a canned ham - which she nuclear blasted too (I mean it's cooked already) so that it was crisp.

So basically I never learned or had the want to cook at home --- till my ex-husband's mother - she was a great cook on big meals. When I'm with my Mom, I do all the cooking - and experimenting.

My mom made horrible food when I was younger, but she has gotten much much better.

It's only recently that I began to realize that being a single income family with two hungry boys may have had a big impact on what she could afford to make us. Now that both of my parents work full time and they have no dependent children, she can afford much better/more exotic ingredients and they now go to much nicer restaurants that inspire her to try cooking those things at home.

My mother is Thai. Everything she makes is good.
I think I know what Shadiya is talking about. Mormon food generally consists of roasts, bakes, casseroles and jello.

LUCKY!

Yeah, if you live in Utah and have lived or hung around in a Mormon family, you know what I'm talking about. We didn't have many roasts in my family growing up, but that seems to be her favorite Sunday dinner dish made in the crockpot now.

My mom made horrible food when I was younger, but she has gotten much much better.

It's only recently that I began to realize that being a single income family with two hungry boys may have had a big impact on what she could afford to make us. Now that both of my parents work full time and they have no dependent children, she can afford much better/more exotic ingredients and they now go to much nicer restaurants that inspire her to try cooking those things at home.

I think that was one of the problems with my family too. We were very poor when I was a teenager and I don't think she could afford much good food. Now, she has more time and money and she's more inspired with good food that she eats from restaurants.

My mom made horrible food when I was younger, but she has gotten much much better.

It's only recently that I began to realize that being a single income family with two hungry boys may have had a big impact on what she could afford to make us. Now that both of my parents work full time and they have no dependent children, she can afford much better/more exotic ingredients and they now go to much nicer restaurants that inspire her to try cooking those things at home.

My ex-husband grew up in a family of 5 boys and 1 girl - all the boys are big robust athletes who were either power builders, wrestling or football champs - so needless to say - they devoured everything - and his parents didn't have much so the ex said they ate A LOT of pasta ---- and she would make a kind of ham salad (I watched her - she made probably 2 gallons at one time!) out of bologna - which is also the meat the ex says, was their staple.